This is the iBeetle, a car made by Apple and Volkswagen

What happens when you put together Apple and Volkswagen? Why, the iBeetle of course. The two companies have collaborated to build the iBeetle… but don’t be fooled, this is definitely not the fabled iCar that Steve Jobs wanted to build[2].

The “Apple” part of this car center around two things.

The first is the “genuine integrative interface”, which is really just a fancy way of saying that they built a dock into the car that is designed to allow an iPhone 5 to be snapped into place. But they’ve also gone ahead and gave its own smartphone app called the Volkswagen Car Net The Beetle (Interesting name, guys!) with the ability to display oil temperature gauges, fuel economy diagnostics and even some Spotify integration and social features.

The second is that the car is available in colors that are “stylistically” linked to Apple. I’m guessing that means you can buy the car in aluminum grey.

And that’s pretty much it, actually. It might seem overwhelming to find out that a car that was worked on by Apple and Volkswagen amounted to a glorified iPhone dock/app and grey color scheme, but that’s likely because the sad truth is the whole Apple-Volkswagen collaboration seen here looks like nothing more than marketing. Nothing beyond that really separates it from the partnerships Apple has already made with other car manufacturers like BMW, Audi and Honda. And because they’re calling this the iBeetle, I can’t help but feel that they missed out on a good opportunity here to make something truly special.

But hey, for the diehard Apple fans out there with the deep pockets to cash in on this little guy, this is probably the closest you’ll get to the iCar. At least for now.

Advance sales for the iBeetle will begin in October 2013 with an expected launch in 2014. No pricing details have been announced.